Hamas by no doubt corresponds to what you say for Russia, “a fanatic religious fundamentalist” organisation. And it wasn’t quite a long time ago that it’s antagonistic counterpart, Amichai Eliyahu suggested to use nuklear weapons for their complete annihilation.
We have long fought to avoid manipulative pluckings over your texts. Your points were toxic to the theses of neo-liberal indoctrination, therefore they were often targeted by the mainstream media and their wordsmith demagogues. We always reminded to your audiences how to read your work in a holistic understanding, since it deserves being studied as the work of a biggest philosopher for centuries after Hegel.
But, Prof Žižek, this doesn’t seem to be a plucked part of a longer line of thought.. ..what the hell is that 👇?!?
We cannot accuse a philosopher for his lack of empirical knowledge. Philosopher’s job is to develop methods for sound reasoning and asking right questions. You might well be wrong in imagining Russia (which is actually the most secular country in the World) as a country of religious fundamentalism. Let’s take this delusion of yours as a truth. Then do you agree with Amichai Eliyahu who suggested to send nukes to Gaza?
Aren’t you the philosopher who long taught us that philosophical thoughts can be more dangerous than nukes?
Before beginning to discuss how Russia is actually religious or not, let’s have a look at the Western world, how the so called “the world of freedoms” are so radically “free” — not “from” but— for religious fanaticism:
Remember some years ago new laws put into force in Britain freeing religious communities, particularly Muslims for applying their own rules — this exceptionalized just their civil code, fortunately not the criminal code with Sharia, yet.. ..let’s send a nuke to Washwood Heath in Birmingham, how do you think?
I am sure you remember Muslim families in France were asking for their daughters to be kept exempt from swimming and sport classes — Despite the fact that Russia has a much larger Muslim population than France, there has never been such a radical request by religious concerns there.. .. let’s send a nuke to the 11th Arrondissement in Paris?
In this interview you say “deep religious fundamentalism” emphasizing the word “deep” probably meaning that that radicalism is deeply embedded in the national culture of the country (well, just to know, Russia is not a “nation state” but it’s a multinational state by definition in it’s constitution).. ..then it’s Greece where you should first look for it:
Do you know that in many Greek towns the priest can simply come to seat at your dinning table and share your food (straight ahead without asking your permission) while you are enjoying your evening with your family, your friends? No one can even think of firing them. There is a proverb in Turkish: “Papaz her gün pilav yemez”, which means “The priest cannot eat good rice everyday”. We, the Greeks and Turks, we know each other better than we know ourselves and this proverb refers precisely to that “deeply embedded” radically religious cultural fact. Shall we send nukes to Greece? Do you know Halkidiki Peninsulas in Greece, one of the three fingers, the one in the North, Mount Athos? It’s one of the most religiously fanatic territories in the world. Even female cats weren’t allowed to enter this land. So, definitely a nuke for them…
Dear Prof Žižek, first I invite you to stay in Moscow being my guest for few weeks and travel around the country. Then we can discuss why Russia is the most secular country in the world and why it’s not possible for it to be religious. Following Althusser you taught us that ideologies are not mental, not subjective, but on the contrary, they are practical and objective. Therefore they need material intermediaries (apparata) to spread and reproduce. The Russian way of life lacks these apparata: there is no a communitarian, localized, narrow neighborhood allowing ideological subjects to exercise ideological interpellation and impose a particular biopolitics to others. There is full anonymity provided in city planning with huge buildings designed with thousands of condos in, vaste parks, public and leisure areas and facilities. More importantly, the flirt culture is miscegenist and this is what makes Russia unbearable to a religiously fanatic mind and — I hypothesize — it’s one of the major causes for Russophobia all over the World. But let’s talk about them after your visit to Russia.
One more important point (even if you were right in defining Russia as a religious country): fascism and religious radicalism don’t always overlap. Remember the Italian communist priests fighting against Mussolini. And our fight today is again against fascism — not against some “satanism” as propagated by the Western media. It’s such a fascism which marginalizes and imprisons the ones who speak about their atrocities and normalizes oddities in the name of activism and leftism. In one of your talks I remember you said “even a banner can be a leader“.. ..that is, people bring into being their own imagined leaders. Have you noticed that this is actually your own leader, a man who is more Zizekian than you are:
Yours, faithfully
Engin Kurtay